A routine maintenance schedule must be actively pursued in order to help achieve and maintain water chemistry. Initially, pool maintenance may seem complicated and time-consuming. But, once routine maintenance becomes an integrated part of your life as a pool owner, it will be very easy to maintain your pool. Furthermore, as you continually engage in pool maintenance, you will begin to develop an understanding of your personal pool needs.

Once your pool is clean, clear, blue, and sparkling, it becomes much easier to maintain. It is always easier to maintain a pool and prevent problems than it is to rectify problems. With far less time and effort, as well as money, you can maintain your pool and keep it inviting all season long. Due to varying bather loads from pool-to-pool and varying climates from region-to-region, poolmanual.com cannot provide a universal maintenance schedule. You must recognize your personal pool needs and you must budget your time in order to follow a routine maintenance schedule that works best for you and your pool. Poolmanual.com will provide the necessary maintenance tasks that do need to be pursued. While it is not absolutely mandatory to follow these procedures step-by-step, the following is a well-recognized pool maintenance schedule, regardless of your region:

You will have to create your own maintenance schedule. Poolmanual.com does not want to tell you to do "this" on this day and "that" on that day. With your bather load and with your climate, routine maintenance is very individualized. Poolmanual.com will provide an in-depth explanation of the various maintenance tasks, and you will have to create your own maintenance schedule, always compensating for climate and bather load.

For more specific information on routine maintenance, select from the following topics:


NETTING: There are two styles of standard pool nets:

Regardless of the net used, leaves and debris must be removed from the pool for a number of reasons. A collection of leaves and debris on the pool floor very well may clog the main drain, which will restrict water circulation and filtration. Leaves and debris can also clog the skimmer basket(s), which will restrict water circulation. Leaves and debris will also absorb chlorine (or its alternative), rendering it less effective to keep up with the bacteria, living organisms, ammonia, and other contaminates that are constantly present in pool water. Leaves and debris may also contain algae spores, which can lead to an outbreak of algae. Leaves and debris can also clog vacuum equipment. It is best to net out as much of the larger leaves and debris as possible, and then vacuum the rest.

It is important to routinely net leaves and debris out of the pool. Netting literally takes 10 - 15 minutes, and should be done anytime a significant amount of leaves or other debris are present in the pool. Netting should be performed after any windstorm. Netting should be performed daily during autumn, and perhaps multiple times per day on any windy autumn day.


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BRUSHING: Pool Brushes are typically 18" long and have either durable nylon bristles (to be used on any type of pool) or stainless steel bristles (to remove algae, stubborn dirt, stains or scale on concrete, gunite, shotcrete, or fiberglass pools).

Brushing is an extremely important, but often overlooked, task towards maintaining your pool. Brushing will remove microscopic matter from the pool walls and floor, suspend this matter in the water, where they will be killed by chlorine (or its alternative) and filtered out of the pool. NOTE: If the microscopic matter is too small and remains in the pool, you will need to add a Clarifier to coagulate these small particles into larger particles, where they will indeed be killed by chlorine (or is alternative) and trapped by the filter.

Always brush the pool from the walls to the floor, using a top to bottom brush technique. Start at the shallow end and brush towards the deep end. Brushing takes no more than 10 - 15 minutes of work, and should be accomplished at least twice per week (and perhaps more often if landscaping or construction are underway near your pool). You should also make sure to brush the day before vacuuming the pool. When you do this, make sure the equipment is operational for a couple hours after brushing so that the main drain and skimmer(s) can remove the recently brushed dirt and debris from the pool. Then, shut "off" the equipment overnight-vacuuming should be accomplished after the water has been calm for several hours so that any dirt and debris that remains in the pool can settle to the bottom in order to be vacuumed out of the pool. Then, that next morning, restart the equipment and vacuum the pool. After the vacuum, monitor the pressure guage-if it is 8-10 psi above the standard operating pressure, clean the filter.

Brushing is the one of the easiest items of the maintenance schedule. If, however, brushing is neglected and favorable conditions should allow for an outbreak of algae, brushing will need to be done daily, and perhaps multiple times per day, and it will be time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, makes sure brushing is part of your routine maintenance schedule.


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SKIMMER BASKET(S): At times, the pressure gauge on your filter will show the operating pressure to be low, which will cause circulation to be poor. The first area to check is to make sure the water level in the pool is adequate. If not, fill the pool to the standard operating level (halfway up the skimmer). If the water level is adwquate, check and clean the skimmer basket(s). Some pools have only one skimmer, while most pools have at least tow skimmers. Here are the steps to clean your skimmer basket(s):

NOTE: For aboveground pools, you can remove the lid to the skimmer box that is mounted on the outside of the pool wall. Once removed, you will have easy access to the skimmer basket.

Notes:


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CLEANING THE PUMP BASKET: A pump basket will sit in the pump housing-the front part of the pump. Your pool will also have a skimmer basket in each of the skimmers. It is the job of these skimmer baskets to trap leaves and other debris so that they do not enter the plumbing. At times, though, some debris (particularly pine needles, dog hair, and other small debris) will escape the simmer basket(s) and will enter the plumbing. If this occurs, it is the job of the pump basket to trap this debris before it enters the equipment, where real damage could occur. Like the skimmer basket(s), the pump basket has very fine passages that will trap dirt or debris, but allow water to pass through. The pump basket is usually positioned under s clear lid, so you can literally see if it contains any debris. You will have to monitor the pump basket daily and clean it out whenever needed. Follow these step to clean your pump basket:

NOTE: Most aboveground pools do not use any valves. The few that do include a slide valve before and after the pump.


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VACUUMING "ON FILTER": During a routine vacuum, with a manageable amount of dirt or debris in the pool, vacuum with the multiport on "filter." This will vacuum the dirt and debris to the filter where it will be trapped and permanently removed from the pool. Only clean water will return to the pool. Here are the steps:

Notes:


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VACUUMING "TO WASTE": Sometimes dirt and debris will be thick and heavy. If so, do not vacuum to "filter" because pressure will build up so quickly that you will spend more time cleaning the filter then you will vacuuming. Rather, bypass the filter and vacuum with the multiport on "waste" (or "drain"). Remember to turn the equipment "off" when moving the multiport from "filter" to "waste" (or "drain"). Do not spend too much time vacuuming to "waste." When vacuuming to "waste," you will be sending the water to a waste-line, thus removing the water from the pool. Here are the steps:

Notes:


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VACCUMING AN ABOVEGROUND POOL: During a routine vacuum, with a manageable amount of dirt or debris in the pool, vacuum with the multiport on "filter." This will vacuum the dirt and debris to the filter where it will be trapped and permanently removed from the pool. Only clean water will return to the pool. Here are the steps:

Notes:


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CLEANING A SAND FILTER: If you have a sand filter, it will need to be backwashed when the pressure is 8-10 psi above the standard operating pressure. Here are the steps:

Notes:


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CLEANING A DE FILTER: If you have a DE filter, it will need to be backwashed when the pressure is 8-10 psi above the standard operating pressure. The main drawback of backwashing with DE filters is that as the dirt and debris are removed from the filter, so is the DE powder. This requires adding new DE powder after each backwash. New style DE filters, called Regenerative DE filters, have implemented a "bump" mode in order to prolong the filter cycles and reduce the need to backwash. But, after so many "bumps," backwashing is inevitable. Here are the steps:

Notes:


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CLEANING A CARTRIDGE FILTER: If you have a cartridge filter, the individual pleated filter elements will need to be removed from the filter itself, cleaned with a garden hose and pressurized nozzle when the pressure is 8 - 10 psi above the standard operating pressure, and secured back in the filter. There is no backwashing with a cartridge filter. Here are the steps to clean a cartridge filter:

Notes:


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ADDING CHEMICALS: Once you have tested your chemicals and completed the maintenance schedule for that particular day, add the necessary chemicals from the previous test(s). Adding chemicals is an obvious part of your routine maintenance schedule.


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WHEN TO SHOCK: "When" to shock is a question that is always asked, often eliciting numerous responses. In fact, "when" to shock the pool has been a constant debate in the pool industry. Some pool professionals will say once per week, some will say every other week, some will say monthly, and still others will say on an as-needed basis. One satisfactory answer given by a pool professional is that you only want to shock your pool when there is a build-up of ammonia and other undesired matter in the water that are handicapping the ability of your chlorine or bromine (or any other possible alternative) to effectively sanitize, disinfect and oxidize the pool water. Though a well-worded answer it does not effectively answer "when." Sorry to say, but there is no set, industry specific answer for pool owners as to when to shock. Relax-poolmanual.com will offer a general recommendation.

Shocking will vary due to the climate (primarily the temperature, humidity, and sunlight) and due to the bather load (the extent to which the pool is used-how many people use the pool at once, how many times throughout one day the pool is used, and how many days each week the pool is used). Here are suggestions:

This is a guideline ONLY. With your climate and with your individual bather load, you may have to shock more often than these general suggestions (or perhaps less than these general suggestions). It is virtually impossible to determine "limited," "normal," and "heavy" use of the pool. It is also virtually impossible to determine an agreed upon value for "cooler," "seasonal," and hot/humid" temperatures for the numerous regions. You have to decide your "use" and your current "weather conditions" and make your own decision. Consult your local pool professionals in your region (climate) for their recommendations on shocking. Also, keep these points in mind:


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